The importance of correct attributions in American stoneware and redware cannot be overstated. The difference in price between a piece attributed correctly to a specific maker and one cataloged with an unknown origin can literally be thousands of dollars. Antique American stoneware and redware are now hotter than they have ever been. You may have a fortune in American utilitarian pottery. It is important that you market your pieces with the most accurate descriptions possible. No one is more knowledgable on the subject of eighteenth and nineteenth century American stoneware than we are.

Great Road of Tennessee & Virginia Redware Jug
A redware jug in our November 2005 sale was purchased shortly before the auction by the consignor for under $20 at an antique shop. We identified the jug's origin and accurately cataloged it as a product of the Great Road potteries of Tennessee and Virginia. To the shock of the consignor, the jug realized $9,075.

Rockingham County, Virginia, Stoneware Sugar Bowl
A stoneware sugar bowl, also sold in our November 2005 auction, was purchased two years before at another major stoneware auction for $6,600. We were able to correctly attribute the bowl to the Mennonite potters of Rockingham County, Virginia, yielding a selling price of $22,550.

Henry Remmey, Philadelphia Stoneware Bank w/ Incised Bird
A woman in Florida was disposing of antiques her father had collected years ago. She nearly sold a stoneware bank of his for $60 at a yard sale, but was put in contact with us. We correctly attributed the bank to Henry Remmey, Jr. of Philadelphia, PA. The bank brought $39,600 in our May 2006 auction.

These are just three examples of many illustrating the importance of knowledge in the specialty of antique American stoneware and redware. You owe it to yourself to entrust your pottery to the foremost experts in the field. Click here for consignment info.
Fenton & Hancock, St. Johnsbury, VT Stoneware Water Cooler This four-gallon Fenton & Hancock, St. Johnsbury, VT stoneware water cooler decorated with what appears to be St. Johnsbury General Asa P. Blunt and his wife realized $88,000 in our November 2006 auction, the highest price ever paid at a live stoneware specialty auction.
Crocker Farm, Inc. is a family business, owned and operated by Anthony and Barbara Zipp and their three sons, Brandt, Luke, and Mark. Anthony and Barbara began collecting and studying American stoneware in 1977, and began selling it in 1983. They have handled thousands and thousands of pieces of antique American stoneware and redware since that time.

Brandt, Luke, and Mark Zipp all have B.A. degrees from Johns Hopkins University, where they each graduated with multiple honors and were inducted into the nation's premiere scholastic honors society, Phi Beta Kappa. All three brothers grew up handling numerous pieces of American stoneware and redware from a very young age, and in this way their knowledge in the field has been said to be unmatched.

Baltimore Stoneware Water Cooler (Signed H. Myers, made by Henry Remmey, Sr.)The origin of pieces marked H. MYERS remained a mystery for decades until we discovered that they were made in Baltimore for merchant Henry Myers and that Myers' chief potter was Henry Remmey, Sr. This Myers cooler brought $72,600 in our July 2004 auction.
We have also spent hundreds of hours conducting original research on American stoneware and redware potters in original, period sources, such as census records, city directories and newspapers. New information brought to light through our research includes ground-breaking revelations on Baltimore, MD stoneware and redware, the long-sought origin of "H. Myers" stoneware, important findings on the history of the prolific Remmey family of American potters, significant contributions to the study of Alexandria, VA and Washington, DC stoneware, new findings in the area of Shenandoah Valley pottery and Pennsylvania redware, notably that of Adams County, PA potter Ernestus Bacher and that of African-American Virginia potter Abraham Spencer. Exhaustive research conducted by us on James Miller, potter of Alexandria, Virginia, took the surviving examples of his work out of obscurity, increasing the value of these vessels by thousands and thousands of dollars. These are just a few of the important contributions we have made to the field of American utilitarian ceramics. Articles published by us include:

James Miller, Alexandria, VA Stoneware Jar Without our research, this stoneware jar signed "J. MILLER / ALEX." would have brought a few hundred dollars at auction. We identified it as the work of obscure Alexandria, Virginia, potter James Miller. It realized $9,075 in our July 2004 sale.
"Henry Remmey & Son, Late of New York: A Rediscovery of a Master Potter's Lost Years"
by Luke Zipp, Available in Ceramics in America 2004

"Baltimore Stoneware"
by Luke Zipp, Available in The Catalog of Antiques and Fine Art (Magazine), Summer 2006

"James Miller: Lost Potter of Alexandria, Virginia"
by Brandt Zipp and Mark Zipp, Available in Ceramics in America 2004

Our auctions have seen some of the highest prices ever paid for American stoneware and redware. In addition to numerous outstanding highlights, the St. Johnsbury, VT cooler in our November 2006 auction realized $88,000, the highest price ever paid at a live stoneware specialty auction. Our May 2006 auction set a record as the highest grossing stoneware auction of all time.

Crocker Farm, Inc. Auction of American Stoneware & Redware Catalog Our full-color, high-quality auction catalogs include professional photos and detailed descriptions of every lot in each auction. Our catalogs serve not only as auction guides, but as valuable reference tools on American ceramics.
World auction records held by us include:

• $71,500. World Auction Record for Pennsylvania stoneware.
• $72,600. World Auction Record for Baltimore stoneware.
• $41,800. World Auction Record for Bell family (Shenandoah Valley) pottery.
• $23,100. World Auction Record for an Anna Pottery (Anna, Illinois) pig bottle.

You might have noticed that we offer a wide variety of American stoneware and redware, ranging from New England and New York, to Virginia and the Southern U.S. states, to the potteries of America's Midwest. This always results in an exciting auction environment for all involved with high participation from all areas of American stoneware and redware collecting. Our high-quality, full-color auction catalogs, praised as the best the field has to offer, are essentially high-quality research texts and help to educate the collecting base on American utilitarian ceramics in general.
Crocker Farm, Inc.   •   P.O. Box 725, Riderwood, MD 21139   •   Phone: (410) 337-5090   •   E-Mail:    •   About Crocker Farm Stoneware & Redware Auction   •   Consign Your Stoneware / Redware   •   Redware / Stoneware Auction Highlights   •   Redware / Stoneware Auction Photos   •   Old Stoneware